One Missed Call
by Gallifreyan Ginger
Summary: After a fight with Shawn, Gus misses a phone call that may cost him his best friend.


A/N: My very first Psych fic...so please be kind. Read and review...cause constructive criticism will help me with future fics. Enjoy!

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Gus is fuming as he slams his car door. He's not been this angry at Shawn…well, he can't remember ever being this angry at Shawn. He puts the key in the ignition and drives off not once glancing back at the office they share.

"Selfish, insufferable nitwit," Gus mumbles to himself. He wants to call him a bastard, but something just feels wrong about it.

He sighs as he drives, sun catches the silver casing of his pharmaceuticals case, the whole reason he's pissed at Shawn right now.

It was like any other day; he'd gone to the office to square things away before heading off on his run. Only Shawn thought otherwise. Being his overactive self he started spewing off about a new case. Some 'ol same 'ol. Something had gone missing, then someone had gotten killed for it, and Shawn wanted to go check out some foreboding warehouse to see if the bad guy's hide out was there. As pissed as he was, Gus had smirked at Shawn calling it the "bad guy's hide out."

But Gus was tired of it. He'd been neglecting his run for the past three weeks and he desperately needed to catch up. One thing had lead to another, and he'd gone off on Shawn. He'd never done that before and he knew he'd regret some of the things he'd said but right now he was so pissed off he didn't care.

He was getting his run completed and nothing Shawn did would stop him. Gus looks at his watch. It had already been over an hour since he stormed off and Shawn still hadn't called. Maybe he'd gotten his message across. Suddenly his phone vibrates.

"Speak of the devil," Gus says as he looks at the caller I.D. _Shawn_. "Sorry, Shawn, but not today." Gus turns off his phone and continues his run.

Six hours and one lunch stop later he's finally finished. Without Shawn's sometimes annoying, overzealous interference he was able to get caught completely up and he was feeling good about it.

Gus grabs his phone, turning it back on.

_**3 missed calls, 3 voicemails**_

He doesn't check to see who the calls are from; he just goes into autopilot and dials his voicemail. He dials his pin – his birthday – which Shawn has called typical on more than one occasion. The first voicemail starts.

"_Hey Gus-"_

Gus sighs to himself.

"_It's me...Shawn. Of course you know it's me, since you put my call straight to your voicemail."_

Gus presses his lips together as he hears Shawn take in a shaky breath. Something's off. The tone of Shawn's voice is changing the more he talks, he sounds like he's struggling with each breath. There's a hint of pain in his voice as he starts speaking again, his voice as shaky as his breathing.

"_Buddy, really wish you'd picked up, would have much rather said all this to you than a machine, but I guess I'll have to deal. Not like I've got all the time in the world, ya know. I, uh, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry, Gus. I know I can be a selfish bastard sometimes, but I just...I just-"_

Shawn hisses and Gus is pretty sure his heart just stopped in his chest. Something's wrong.

"_Buddy, just know, I'm sorry for not really realizing you have a life outside of Psych. Sometimes it just doesn't feel right working a case without my trusty sidekick. And now I'm thinking I should have listened to you and just gotten that pineapple smoothie and bothered Jules because...Well, you know what. Never mind, this isn't your fault...just remember that ok. I just want you to know that you're the best friend I've ever had, ok. Just know-__**END OF MESSAGE**__."_

Gus's hands are shaking now as he tries to stay on the road. His stomach is tied in knots as he goes to the second message.

"_Gus-"_

This time it's Juliet and she sounds panicked.

_Damn it Gus, of all times to have your phone off...I don't' care if you can't hear me. You need to answer your phone, ok. I need you to call me as soon as you get this."_

There's a pause and Gus swears he can hear a siren in the background.

"_Gus, please...just call."_

Gus' mind is going a million miles a minute trying to figure out what the hell has happened. The third message plays, it was over an hour old.

"_This is Santa Barbara Cottage-"_

"Oh god…"

"_I'm trying to reach a Mr. Burton Guster in regards to a patient we admitted about two hours ago. A Mr. Shawn Spencer was brought in with a gunshot wound to the chest and you were the first person on his contact list..."_

Gus quickly shuts his phone, throwing it in the passenger seat before doing a quick and definitely illegal u-turn as he speeds toward the hospital.

"Please don't let me be too late. Please let him be ok," becomes his mantra as he floors the accelerator as the memory of his fight with Shawn creeps back into his mind.

**flashback**

"_Shawn, I'm not going with you. I've got an actual job or have you forgotten," Gus says as he rearranges the samples in his case._

_Shawn's sitting with his legs on his desk, bouncing a mini basketball from hand to hand. "Gus, c'mon! When are you going to face facts. You like this job better, and seriously, I need-"_

_Gus slams the lid of his case down, he's fuming, "That's just it Shawn! It's always what YOU need. It's never what I need. You can never wrap your brain around the fact that I actually had a job before you pulled me into this scheme of yours. Damn it, Shawn, when are you going to stop acting like we're kids! You're a grown man, you can do this on your own! You don't always need me there to back you up. For once in your life Shawn, think about someone else."_

_With that said, Gus grabs his case and heads out the door._

_**end flashback**_

Fifteen minutes later he finds himself at the nurse's station.

"Hi, I need information on the condition of Shawn Spencer," Gus asks, still somewhat out of breathe from the run from his car.

The nurse looks at him, "Are you family? I can only give information out to family."

Gus clinches his jaw and is about to retaliate when he hears a voice behind him.

"Gus!"

He turns to find Juliet and Lassiter standing from their chairs in the waiting room. He rushes over to them and before he knows it Juliet's arms are around him. He pulls away and sees that Juliet's eyes are rimmed red. She's been crying.

His stomach does another flip-flop. "Juliet! What happened? How is he?"

"Gus, he…they won't…it was bad-" Juliet stops, biting her lip, unable to continue as her eyes well up again.

Lassiter steps in, "Guster-"

"Lassi-…Carlton, please. What happened?"

"Gus, it was bad, I won't lie. Apparently Spencer," Lassie sighs, "Apparently Shawn had a vision about where Colten's partner was hiding out. He called us and said he was going to check it out. I told him to wait and let us back him up. Being Spencer, he wouldn't listen. I asked him where you were and he simply said that he didn't always need you for backup."

Gus winces as his own words come back to haunt him.

Lassie continues, "After the phone call with Spencer, O'Hara and I went to the warehouse. When we got there we heard a gunshot and saw Colten's partner running from the building. I went after him while O'Hara went into the warehouse."

"I found Shawn on the floor…bleeding," Juliet spoke up, her voice shaky and small. And that's when Gus noticed the blood stains on her white dress shirt. Her hands were stained with blotches of pale red where the blood had dried.

"When I got to him, his phone was in his hand and he was barely conscious. I assumed he attempted to call for help but the blood loss got to him. I called for an ambulance and tried to keep him conscious but once help arrived Lassiter and I had to take car of the partner. That's when I called you."

Gus runs a hand over his face. "I should have been there," he whispers to himself.

"They came out about ten minutes before you got here. He's ok, Guster," Lassiter said as he places a hand on Gus' shoulder.

"What we thought was a chest wound was a shoulder wound. It was a clean shot, just bled a lot. He's been in a room for over an hour now. His father's with him."

"What room?"

"Gus, he's probably asleep-"

"What. Room."

"Room 548," Juliet says.

Gus turns and heads for the stairs. The elevator would take too long. Stairway after stairway, corner after corner and finally he reaches the fifth floor. He races down the hallway, trying to be as quite at possible. Finally he gets to his destination. The door is slightly ajar and the lights are off. Gus pushes the door gently to find Henry asleep in a chair beside of Shawn.

Gus' stomach does that flip-flop thing once more as his eyes take in Shawn. He's paler than normal, thick white bandage visible under the thin material of his gown. His arm's already in a sling.

"So are you just going to stand there or are you going to actually come over here and keep me company," a raspy voice says.

Shawn's awake and probably had been the entire time but Gus has been too preoccupied with the IVs and the overly sanitary smell. He's been too preoccupied with the fact that this is his fault.

He can't look Shawn in the eyes. "Gus, c'mon man. I know that face. I told you not to think this was your fault. It's all on me. I weaved when I should have bobbed."

Gus can't help but smile a little. If Shawn's making a joke, he has to be ok. He chances a look. Shawn's staring at him, but he's not angry, she's grinning. Yeah, maybe it was the pain meds but he looked ok.

"C'mon over here, Gus! You can't just leave me here to keep myself entertained. That never ends well. Don't you remember what happened when we were kids and you had chicken pox and couldn't come out and play for two weeks."

Gus smiles more, "Yeah, you decided you were going to play Chips and ended up crashing your bike and breaking your leg and then YOU couldn't come out and play."

"Ah yes, it's a sick, sick cycle Gus," Shawn says but his tone suddenly goes serious as he slowly sits up in his bed, "Gus I'm really sorry. I need to give you space, let you decide when to work on a case or not. I…I was selfish. You were right."

Gus steps closer to the bed, occupying the side Henry wasn't on. "Shawn, don't. I overreacted. I get why you wanted me to go, I just was spreading myself thin. And anyway, you need me. You can't keep yourself out of trouble when I'm not around."

Shawn smiles, "What can I say, I need my Magic Head."

Without thinking, Gus leans in and grabs Shawn in a bear hug. "I swear to god, Shawn if you ever do this again. If you ever go and get yourself shot because you won't wait for back up I'll kill you myself."

Shawn lets out a quick breathe, "Gaping hole in shoulder, Gus! Not a fan of hugs."

Gus lets go of Shawn and smiles, "Yeah, sorry." He turns his head and quickly wipes his eyes, the high emotion of the day finally getting to him.

As he turns back around the smile on his face tells him that Shawn saw his tears but he stays quiet. Gus smiles back relieved that Shawn's ok and makes a mental note to never ignore Shawn's calls ever again. He pulls up a chair next to Shawn's bed.

"So, before those pain meds take me to the land of pretty colors and fluffy clouds, how about you tell me about your day."

"You serious?"

"Yeah! Of course I am. From now on, we add you time into our weekly regimen. So, c'mon Gussy, did you see that cute red head you're always talking about?"

"I did, and she told me I looked sharp in my new suit and I got her phone number."

"Attaboy, Gus! What else went down you sly dog."

Gus smiles to himself. Things were ok, and he was going to make sure they stayed that way.

The End


End file.
